Engineering foundation year

How hard is it compared to A levels?

How many people are there in one class?

How many hours a week do you spend studying?
How often do you have to go into classes?

I also applied through UCAS to go to another university so if that's something that interests you I can help you with that.

Did you manage to get into Year 1 of another university? Did you need a reference from Brunel?

It's pretty much exactly the same as A level but crammed into one year. I had done A-Level maths before so I had no issues but for someone who hasn't done maths or physics at A-Level they may find it to move a little fast. The maths course works directly from an A-Level textbook and you are required to teach yourself a couple of chapters. Physics is a little better but one of the lecturers refused to give notes out until after the first test (but he did before the final exam). If you ask nicely enough I might upload them here. Materials is an odd course because all the teaching is done in the first term; all the lab work in the second but the exam in the exam period. As I learned the hard way, the uploaded powerpoints enough and if you don't take good notes you'll find the exam to be a bit of a struggle. Electronics wasn't too hard for me as I'm a budding electronic engineer. Mechanics is basically M1 at A-Level maths. There is a course on fluid dynamics at the beginning of the year but that is only tested in the class tests and not examined in the final examination.


In my year there were 140 but maybe 50 people max turned up regularly to all the lectures. For lab work and the like you are split up into smaller groups. In maths a register was taken but only so the lecturer could rub it in their face if anyone complained -- this might be different for you since at some points there were like 6 people out of 140 turning up to the maths lectures, so I reckon there'll be a new system implemented in September. For the first lot of "lab" work (which is basic Microsoft Excel stuff) we were split into groups of 30 but two at a time so 60.


It varies from week to week but I aimed to mirror the amount of time I spent in lectures which was about 15-20 hours. It depends on how much of the material you've covered before. I have done both maths and physics A-Level (but got a D in maths hence why I took the FY) and so not a lot of the material was new to me and I didn't need to spend as much time as someone new to the material might. I'd advise planning it out with your personal tutor. Depending on the tutor you get they may arrange a forced meeting with your or you might have to arrange a meeting with them.

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If anyone wants details of the course structure I'd be more than happy to tell you.

I also applied through UCAS to go to another university so if that's something that interests you I can help you with that.

Thanks for the help, for my a levels i done maths, electronics and product design. I should be fine with maths and electronics but physics might throw me off as i haven't done it for 2-3 years now.
Also how hard are the exams?

Product design should be very useful for the Materials module. Most exams are pretty formulaic from year to year although we started a new syllabus so the physics and materials exams were different. None of them are any harder than a level exams though.

Thanks for the help, did you stay on campus?

Yep. Look in this thread for my experience with accomodation.

Do you think its worth doing the full engineering course at brunel or is it better going to another uni once ive finished the foundation year.

If anyone is considering anything to do with the FY or has any questions about what's coming up, let me know.

Are the term times the same? I heard there's a summer school?

It's really personal preference. You've got a month or so to see if you like the uni before you really need to decide. It might be that you like Brunel and want to stay there. It also depends on the course you want to do. I wanted to do Electronic Engineering for which Brunel isn't that great; but for courses like Mechanical Engineering it's okay. There are lots of factors involved but it's mostly what YOU want to do.

To stay on the Brunel course you need 50% minimum in most modules (it varies from course to course and they are lenient).

Manchester, Sheffield, Bath and Southampton all quoted 70% average and Bristol quoted 80% average (all with the same percentage minimum in maths) for Electronic Engineering. I imagine it will be the same for other courses.

There's also the accomodation situation. Getting halls as a second-year (you'll be a 1st year but it'll be your second at Brunel) at Brunel is very hard and I was declined one. You need to pay a £400 deposite but if you don't get a hall it gets returned; and if you do get a hall but don't need it then you'll get £350 back as long as you tell them before September. If you end up not getting into another university then you can always go to the on-campus housing shop but you are unlikely to end up with friends as you can't sign contracts when it's necessary. As a first-year you are usually guaranteed accomodation at your firm choice uni.

The UCAS application deadline is about Jan 15th but you'll need to get all the tutor-reference stuff sorted and so you need to start the process in mid-late October, which as I say gives you about a month to get a feel for the uni.

Talk to you tutor too, and see what they think.

Is the UCAS process the same as applying from A levels?

Pretty much. It's a personal application, though, so you'll have to sort out the reference and stuff yourself.

Different personal statement etc? Seems like extra hassle :/

I used a modified version of my first. It was a bit of a hassle, but for me it was worth it. I wanted something better than Brunel.